I skimmed past 2010 in my previous post without really
realizing that was a very busy and somewhat stressful year in my career. The first part of that year was difficult working
with a staff member who did not have a very good grasp of the MT
profession. He eventually left, which
I’m sorry to say no one was unhappy to see him go; in fact, it was quite a
relief. It was in the spring of that
year that I had the pleasure of meeting the director of education in person,
having a wonderful 3-hour chat with a lot of brainstorming. My title was also changed to faculty
coordinator rather than instructor coordinator due to the school possibly obtaining
accreditation. Apparently proper wording
is everything when seeking accreditation, and faculty just fit better than instructor,
at least to the accreditation crowd.
By the end of the summer, a few instructors had quit or been
let go, and one of the managers was also let go. That put a lot more responsibility on my
desk, but I was fine with that. As I
have mentioned earlier, I like a full plate.
Towards the end of the year, the decision was made to add speech
recognition editing to our curriculum, so that entailed a very big
project. I even worked through my
vacation and while I was very ill with a respiratory infection to help get the
project up and running. This was during
the holiday season, so to say it was a busy time is putting it mildly. Despite being so sick and worn out, I was
still enjoying the project and excited about adding speech rec to our course of
study.
We went into 2011 still working on the speech rec project
and staying very busy with students, of course.
During the summer months, we got word that our school was sold to
another large company. There was barely
time to get used to working with one company when now the staff was faced with
yet another purchase of the school.
Enrollments had been down for quite some time due to the economy, so
despite being so busy, it was still a worrisome time. I even wondered if I should start looking
elsewhere for work, but I loved my job so much that I put that on the back
burner. I really did not want to work
anywhere else.
As it turned out, I should have followed my gut feeling and
started that job search. In the fall, I
got a note from my boss saying she wanted to call to catch up. She had been on
vacation, and I just assumed she wanted to hear about anything that went on
while she was away. When the phone
rang, little did I know that call would change my life completely. My boss and another director were on the
line, and I was told that my services were no longer needed. I really don’t blame my boss for her note
about wanting to catch up, because how do you tell someone you need to speak
with them because you are going to be told your job is over and done? I think deep down a part of me knew this was
coming, but I was not expecting it quite that soon. Yet it did make sense. When a company is bought out by another
company, there are always employee changes made. Nothing ever stays the same when a buy-out is
in the works.
The one positive was that I was asked to stay on during the
“transition” period, which would keep me employed through February of
2012. That was 5 months of work I was
not expecting, so I was happy I could put off that job search at least until
after the holidays.
No day is a good day to learn you are losing your job, but
when you try to call a friend or family member to share the news and get some
comfort and no one is home, well, suffice it to say that makes the day all that
much worse. I could not believe no one
was home except for my sister-in-law who had a terrible cold and could hardly
talk. My poor pup bore the brunt of my
frustration that day, but I can tell you a lick on the face can definitely make
a scary time a bit less so.
I will say the company was somewhat generous in that they
were allowing me to work for 5 more months and giving me a bonus if I stayed on
until the very end, so that actually was giving me time to think about a new
job after my time was up. It gave me a
little breathing room. You might think I
would have used that time to just barely do my job and no more. They were
letting me go, so why should I show any loyalty to this company? For
me, it was more about the people I was working with, not the company. Some
person in an office far removed from my job made the decision to let me
go. Those kinds of decisions are made every
day in any company. Granted, I hope I
never meet that guy, but I could not justify taking out my anger and
frustration on my co-workers and students because someone made what he felt was
a good business decision for the company (even though it wasn’t….).
Taking the high road and acting in the most professional
manner possible is not always easy.
Believe me when I tell you there were days I wanted to just not show
up. But I felt so much better about
myself by still giving over 100% to my job, and in the long run, that made me
the winner, not the suit who thought nothing more of me than an ID number on a
spreadsheet. Keeping my attitude and work ethic at the top of my game paid off
in more ways than one. Not only did I
receive the bonus at the end of February, but I was also asked to stay on an
additional 3 months with the possibility of the company reversing their
decision. That led to another 3 months
of extension over the summer, and by the end of August, I was told I was to
stay on permanently if I wanted.
